As far as texting apps go, we have no shortage of options. There's textPlus, TextNow, textfree, and plenty of others. However, the developers Borange and atebits (developer of Tweetie) are teaming up to enter the arena with a new app named Textie.

So, what does Textie bring to the table? It can send messages to other Textie users, email addresses, and most mobile phones; it's free; push notifications are included; and it can handle photos, too. But the real draw here is its user interface. As you'd expect given the developers (atebits' Tweetie client is set to become Twitter's official app), the user interface is stellar, and careful attention has been paid to detail. While the app's feature list isn't bursting with bullet points, the app handles texts quickly and cleanly. Your "inbox" looks more like the standard Mail app than a third-party application, and in my book, that's a great thing!

Of course, there are at least a dozen solid texting apps in the App Store. But Textie is free, simple, and elegant. If you don't have a free-texting app yet, be sure to grab Textie and take it for a spin. (Just make sure you have a data plan!) The app claims to support a number of carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and more, but excluding T-Mobile in the US.